36 Redruff 



this was not the first time he had been served 

 this very trick, though he never knew the rea- 

 son for it- 

 Mean while Mother Partridge skimmed in a 

 great circle and came by a roundabout way 

 back to the little fuzz-balls she had left hidden 

 in the woods. 



With a wild bird's keen memory for places, 

 she went to the very grass-blade she last trod 

 on, and stood for a moment fondly to admire 

 the perfect stillness of her children. Even at 

 her step not one had stirred, and the little fel- 

 low on the chip, not so very badly concealed 

 after all, had not budged, nor did he now : he 

 only closed his eyes a tiny little bit harder, tiU 

 the mother said ; 



'K-reetf ' (Come, children) and instantly, like 

 a tairy story, every hole gave up its little baby-^ 

 partridge and the wee fellow on the chip, the 

 biggest ot them all really, opened his big-little 

 eves and ran to the shelter ot her broad tail, 

 with a sweet little ' peep peep* which an enemy 

 could not have heard three feet away, but 

 whicn his mother could not have missed thrice 

 »s tar, and all the other thimblefuls ot down 

 /omed in. and no doubt thought themselves 

 dreadfully noisy, and were p*- iuortionately 



